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Old 11-07-2016, 09:52 PM   #1
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Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: NE Oklahoma
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Year: 2000
Engine: 6.5L Turbo
Okie Nomads 2000 6.5L Chevy 4-Window

My girlfriend and I just picked up a low miles 2000 Chevy 4-window short bus with the Chevy 6.5L Turbo Diesel and low miles. We are the 3rd owners with the second being a church that did not own it long and the original school that ordered it. It has a few cosmetic needs, but other than that, it runs well and tracks straight.

We are planning a long road trip(3-5 months) to relocate to a new part of the country (Oklahoma to PNW) and are going to build the shorty to live out of on our trip and for the first month or so of settling down in a new home.







Plans include:
-PMD relocation
-Bed Platform with storage underneath
-A couple of house batteries with small solar setup to power LED lights, laptops, and a fridge
-Water tanks for a small sink
-Floating floor and pallet wood ceiling
-Standard house door in place of bi-folds
-Bike rack on the rear
-Roof skylight and fantastic fan (NO AC)

The most pressing matter is to get the bus insured and tagged. State Farm is struggling with the VIN right now, but once it is legal we are going to shake it down with a trip to Colorado for a ski trip this winter. Stay tuned.

Check out the progress on Instagram @elsemanzach and I will try to update this thread often. Thanks for looking!

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Old 11-07-2016, 11:43 PM   #2
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Nice bus we have pretty much same bus just mine is 5 window.

If is a 6.5L detroit I recommend you to read fully this thread :

6.5L Diesel checklist

And check everything it says to make sure your engine is in good condition.

Good luck with the project and welcome.
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Old 11-08-2016, 02:25 AM   #3
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The first thing I would do would be to get rid of all of the lettering on the bus. There is no better way to have the officials in your face than having a vehicle still identified as a school bus that is no longer a school bus.
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Old 11-08-2016, 06:17 AM   #4
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Nice clean lil bus! I want one of those for my landscaping routes!
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Old 11-08-2016, 12:36 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pepepito View Post
Nice bus we have pretty much same bus just mine is 5 window.

If is a 6.5L detroit I recommend you to read fully this thread :

6.5L Diesel checklist

And check everything it says to make sure your engine is in good condition.

Good luck with the project and welcome.
I actually read through that whole thread before buying. There is a ton of information on this motor!
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Old 11-08-2016, 12:37 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by cowlitzcoach View Post
The first thing I would do would be to get rid of all of the lettering on the bus. There is no better way to have the officials in your face than having a vehicle still identified as a school bus that is no longer a school bus.
You're right! That's why it is in the backyard until we can get the lettering off. Any suggestions on methods of removal?
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Old 11-08-2016, 01:03 PM   #7
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that is a great lookin little bus!! get ready to have fun!!!
-Christopher
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Old 11-13-2016, 09:52 PM   #8
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We got a little bit of work done today on the short bus. My girlfriend got to work removing the school name from the sides with the heat gun while I started removing two rows of seats in preparation for a shakedown trip to the mountains for the holidays.



Obviously you can still read from the faded paint, but it is much better than before.



Seats out! Just enough room for the heater to stay put and a place to stow skis, boards, and bags for a week of snow. We also removed the half-seats behind the driver, they were awkward and made getting comfortable a little difficult for tall people.



Once those were out, my lady turned her attention to the front and back lettering. Of course, she left " C OOL BUS" on the front and back. I like it!





We took off the obnoxious "child crossing" mirrors. No worries, all holes will be patched before we repaint in the spring. Are theses mirrors worth anything on Craigslist?




And lastly, a few projects in one shot. 2 Xterras, several bicycles, and the bus. Our only plans forthcoming are to get the heat working in the rear heater and relocate the PMD before we leave. Does anyone know how the rear heater actually grounds? Does it have to be in the seat frame to function?
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Old 11-14-2016, 12:49 AM   #9
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Welcome! sounds like a fun adventure.
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Old 11-14-2016, 09:17 AM   #10
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I doubt theres much use for those mirrors on craigslist.. they do come in real handy when parking a bus into tight spots.. you can pull up to the inch when needbe.. I use mine all the time.. probably nor as necessary in a van cutaway as you can see over the hood better than in a full size bus.
Lookin good! those half seats used to be called "modesty panels".. designed originally for when girls in dresses sat in the front row (seriously).. and later on they were made taller and used for compartmentalization during a crash.. kids wouldnt fly over them into the windows...

my carpenter has nice low ones with poles.. much easier to deal with.. my bluebird has the taller ones.. i'll probably yank at least one of them on that bus..

-Christopher
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Old 11-14-2016, 09:20 AM   #11
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Even on a shortie like yours, I'd keep them. Great for clearing blindspots that moron drivers like to hang out in
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Old 11-14-2016, 09:56 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
I doubt theres much use for those mirrors on craigslist.. they do come in real handy when parking a bus into tight spots.. you can pull up to the inch when needbe.. I use mine all the time.. probably nor as necessary in a van cutaway as you can see over the hood better than in a full size bus.
Lookin good! those half seats used to be called "modesty panels".. designed originally for when girls in dresses sat in the front row (seriously).. and later on they were made taller and used for compartmentalization during a crash.. kids wouldnt fly over them into the windows...

my carpenter has nice low ones with poles.. much easier to deal with.. my bluebird has the taller ones.. i'll probably yank at least one of them on that bus..

-Christopher

I remember riding in the back seat with this one girl we'll call Melinda...

Melinda was not modest! And I think she'd been in the back seat before
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Old 11-17-2016, 09:30 AM   #13
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Even on a shortie like yours, I'd keep them. Great for clearing blindspots that moron drivers like to hang out in
We took them off for the time being mainly because I kept running into them in the driveway. If we miss them, we can always re install.

Ordering speakers, fantastic fan, and pmd relocation sometime this week, stay tuned!
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Old 11-24-2016, 06:26 PM   #14
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A little update. We got new speakers installed in the front of the bus. I think we might install a head unit in the bulk head above the driver and install rear speakers as well, but that's later.



We lost our escape hatch while travelling down a county road last weekend. We drove back and retrieved it, but were expecting a bit of rain this week so we installed a sky-light. I used Lexan and stainless steel self taping screws. A fantastic fan will be installed in this hole at some point after our ski trip.



I picked up a bunch of lumber from the Lowes scrap pile and will be putting it to work on a temporary bed platform for our December trip.

We have been planning to remove the rear heater from the bus and capping off the lines. We are planning on travelling the West and Northwest US in the summer and fall months and don't plan on needing a lot of heat. Would a Buddy Heater work for those cold nights/mornings to just heat up the bus?
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Old 12-07-2016, 07:56 PM   #15
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How did you cut out for the speakers? Mine just arrived so i'll be putting them in soon. Also look for garage door installers for odd size pallets with lots of 2x4's. Ones i found here were 19' long with 4 2x4's per pallet. Useful for framing up beds etc.

Jeep, bus, repeat.
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Old 12-07-2016, 10:51 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by yellowxj View Post
How did you cut out for the speakers? Mine just arrived so i'll be putting them in soon. Also look for garage door installers for odd size pallets with lots of 2x4's. Ones i found here were 19' long with 4 2x4's per pallet. Useful for framing up beds etc.

Jeep, bus, repeat.
The process was mostly using tin snips to cut small (<1") cuts out from the center, all the way around and folding them back into the hole. It was crude and looked really bad before the speakers were in.

I'll keep and eye out for long pallets, thanks for the tip!
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Old 12-11-2016, 08:38 PM   #17
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We took our first shakedown trip in the bus. We visited Devil's Den State Park in NW Arkansas for the weekend. A friend met us Saturday morning for some offroading in his 4x4.



The campsite:




Trying out the makeshift kitchen:


It was a great escape for the weekend and I really started to see the appeal of being able to camp without unloading/loading everything.

I have also had a chance to start working on a design for the build. Let me know what you think! The finished design will have a table in between the two chairs.

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Old 12-11-2016, 08:55 PM   #18
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Super fun!
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Old 12-11-2016, 09:09 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zelseman View Post
We took our first shakedown trip in the bus. We visited Devil's Den State Park in NW Arkansas for the weekend. A friend met us Saturday morning for some offroading in his 4x4.



The campsite:




Trying out the makeshift kitchen:


It was a great escape for the weekend and I really started to see the appeal of being able to camp without unloading/loading everything.

I have also had a chance to start working on a design for the build. Let me know what you think! The finished design will have a table in between the two chairs.

Holler on the next shakedown... I live only an hour south of devil's den, and I coulda ran on up to Fayetteville when I dropped by to say hi!
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Old 12-11-2016, 10:46 PM   #20
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Holler on the next shakedown... I live only an hour south of devil's den, and I coulda ran on up to Fayetteville when I dropped by to say hi!
Same here man. I live in Fayetteville. Let me know anytime you guys are going to be around. We'll burn one.

-Thomas
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